Predict your student debt, or how will you pay all this back?

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SoulinNeed

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SoulinNeed said:
Use these tools to figure out how much your monthly payment will be: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

And use this tool to figure out how much your total debt will be AFTER med school, if you're planning on deffering during residency: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/interestcap.phtml

Mine will be close to $280 after med school, and that includes IBR payments during residency. That's $3,200 a month for 10 years.

Good lord.
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In the grand scheme of things, $3200 per month for 10 years isn't that bad. If you do anything besides peds, hospitalist, or family med, you will probably make close to $200k straight out. As long as you dedicate your finances to paying off your loans before making big investments, you will have plenty of money to pay this and still save for retirement, provide for a family, etc.

Also, as long as the govt keeps it, if you do residency at a 501c(3) program (pretty much any state school and most med schools) and take a job at a similar institution for a total of 10 years, your loans are forgiven. You have to pay IBR at minimum during residency, and your payment will be the standard repayment after residency, but after this, you will save about $150-$200k.

Worry about getting in to school first. No need to freak about cost of attendance. It sucks. We all go through it. Last time I checked, most physicians were well off.
 
maybe you assumed in your first calculation that you would take it all out at the beginning (and gain interest on all of it at the same time) instead of taking it out in yearly installments? (ie. since there are bi-yearly disbursements only 1/8th of your loans will actually gain a full 4 years of interest during school, if I understand this correctly)

regarding accuracy... I think you'd have to ask the AAMC about that, but my med school's financial aid office links to this calculator.
 
SoulinNeed said:
Use these tools to figure out how much your monthly payment will be: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

And use this tool to figure out how much your total debt will be AFTER med school, if you're planning on deffering during residency: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/interestcap.phtml

Mine will be close to $280K after med school, and that includes IBR payments during residency. That's $3,200 a month for 10 years.

Good lord.
Click to expand...

We're gonna be in pretty much the same boat.

😍
 
peanutz said:
maybe you assumed in your first calculation that you would take it all out at the beginning (and gain interest on all of it at the same time) instead of taking it out in yearly installments? (ie. since there are bi-yearly disbursements only 1/8th of your loans will actually gain a full 4 years of interest during school, if I understand this correctly)

regarding accuracy... I think you'd have to ask the AAMC about that, but my med school's financial aid office links to this calculator.
Click to expand...

Closer to 1/4. Don't forget the 6 month deferment before repayment. It doest capitalize until then. Then again, those loans are typically less in value than the later loans (clinical years are typically more expensive). So maybe 1/5 if I was estimating.

Regardless, that's a fair point about the calculator. It likely assumes equal interest/maturation at time of capitalization.
 
peanutz said:
maybe you assumed in your first calculation that you would take it all out at the beginning (and gain interest on all of it at the same time) instead of taking it out in yearly installments? (ie. since there are bi-yearly disbursements only 1/8th of your loans will actually gain a full 4 years of interest during school, if I understand this correctly)

regarding accuracy... I think you'd have to ask the AAMC about that, but my med school's financial aid office links to this calculator.
Click to expand...
No, I did them in yearly installments. However, I forgot about the bi-annual disbursement so that may be it.

EDIT: Here's a question. Does the "balance after residency" portion include interest? It would have to, right?
 
Also, if spent reasonably, you don't need the entire amount that they give you to go to med school. A lot of students go 4 people to a small house and eat cheap food and are thousands under what is available for loan.
 
rueby25 said:
In the grand scheme of things, $3200 per month for 10 years isn't that bad. If you do anything besides peds, hospitalist, or family med, you will probably make close to $200k straight out. As long as you dedicate your finances to paying off your loans before making big investments, you will have plenty of money to pay this and still save for retirement, provide for a family, etc.

Also, as long as the govt keeps it, if you do residency at a 501c(3) program (pretty much any state school and most med schools) and take a job at a similar institution for a total of 10 years, your loans are forgiven. You have to pay IBR at minimum during residency, and your payment will be the standard repayment after residency, but after this, you will save about $150-$200k.

Worry about getting in to school first. No need to freak about cost of attendance. It sucks. We all go through it. Last time I checked, most physicians were well off.
Click to expand...
I've already been accepted into med school. I'm allowed to worry about this stuff now.
 
SoulinNeed said:
I've already been accepted into med school. I'm allowed to worry about this stuff now.
Click to expand...

Ehhhhhhh..... I guess. I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's a lot like death and taxes. At this point, it's unavoidable.

Also, you seemed to have skipped over the part where I told you it's gonna be ok, in favor of focusing on the comment. Seriously. It's gonna be ok. Spend your time studying so you get a residency and a job. Otherwise, you *will* have to worry about being able to pay it back.
 
I'm going to have about 325k of debt right after graduation. Not too bad, considering the other school where I was accepted would have put me about 500k in debt.:scared:
 
SoulinNeed said:
No, I did them in yearly installments. However, I forgot about the bi-annual disbursement so that may be it.

EDIT: Here's a question. Does the "balance after residency" portion include interest? It would have to, right?
Click to expand...

I believe so. Otherwise it would be your principle minus payments (IBR is less than interest accrued I believe, so you actually aren't paying down principle). So if the number they give you for after residency is any amount more than the original, then yes, it includes interest.
 
Is there anyway to see, using the AAMC tool, what my balance including interest will be at the time of my graduation, and not after residency?
 
SilverCat said:
I'm going to have about 325k of debt right after graduation. Not too bad, considering the other school where I was accepted would have put me about 500k in debt.:scared:
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500k from just med school or are you including undergrad? I can't imagine med school ever costing me that much, even in the most expensive city in the country. Live cheap.
 
jr93 said:
500k from just med school or are you including undergrad? I can't imagine med school ever costing me that much, even in the most expensive city in the country. Live cheap.
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He has to be, unless it's one of those stupid out of state tuitions that are like $80K.
 
jr93 said:
500k from just med school or are you including undergrad? I can't imagine med school ever costing me that much, even in the most expensive city in the country. Live cheap.
Click to expand...

I have no undergrad debt. That's med school debt- the tuition starts at 56k. Of course,that includes interest accumulation by the time of graduation. It's based on the Medloans calculator.
 
Sigh. already have 160k from undergrad. I am never doing that again/
 
I'll be about 120k in. Wife is a pharmacist, so with some help from her and my entire residency paycheck going into it, I'm hoping to have it killed before I am an attending. I feel incredibly fortunate to be in my position.
 
God....probably over 400k at the very least.

Probably move back with family for a year or two (they'll probably beg me to come back anyways :laugh:) after reaching Physician level salary. I'm still looking into other ways, though.
 
SoulinNeed said:
Is there anyway to see, using the AAMC tool, what my balance including interest will be at the time of my graduation, and not after residency?
Click to expand...

can you maybe put in a 0 year residency?


ETA:
Anyone else look at doing the "Pay as you Earn" thing? And maybe can anyone tell me how it's different from Income Based Repayment? It looks like for people with families that it could end up being way less, especially if you go into a lower paying area.
 
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rain4venus said:
can you maybe put in a 0 year residency?


ETA:
Anyone else look at doing the "Pay as you Earn" thing? And maybe can anyone tell me how it's different from Income Based Repayment? It looks like for people with families that it could end up being way less, especially if you go into a lower paying area.
Click to expand...

PAYE is the newer nicer IBR.

Loan payment minimums are 10% of discretionary income, instead of 15%.
Taxable loan forgiveness at 20 years, instead of 25.

Other than that it is basically the same thing. Since PAYE is newer and has a worse acronym, most people call both of them IBR.
 
sazerac said:
PAYE is the newer nicer IBR.

Loan payment minimums are 10% of discretionary income, instead of 15%.
Taxable loan forgiveness at 20 years, instead of 25.

Other than that it is basically the same thing. Since PAYE is newer and has a worse acronym, most people call both of them IBR.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That was pretty much what I came up with as well, but it seemed like there must be some other difference, or else why would anyone ever do IBR anymore? Maybe depending on the numbers, 15% over 25 years will work out to be less than 10% over 20 years?
 
rain4venus said:
Thanks! That was pretty much what I came up with as well, but it seemed like there must be some other difference, or else why would anyone ever do IBR anymore? Maybe depending on the numbers, 15% over 25 years will work out to be less than 10% over 20 years?
Click to expand...
Well, maybe it has harder qualifications? If you can pay 15%, then that's what they'll make you do. I doubt it's a choice thing for most people, really.
 
rain4venus said:
Thanks! That was pretty much what I came up with as well, but it seemed like there must be some other difference, or else why would anyone ever do IBR anymore? Maybe depending on the numbers, 15% over 25 years will work out to be less than 10% over 20 years?
Click to expand...

Because PAYE came into existence very recently. Like last year or something. I don't think there even is an IBR anymore, but there are hundreds of thousands of legacy graduates who are still enrolled in it.
 
sazerac said:
Because PAYE came into existence very recently. Like last year or something. I don't think there even is an IBR anymore, but there are hundreds of thousands of legacy graduates who are still enrolled in it.
Click to expand...

Thanks! 👍 That's exactly what I was wondering
 
Here's something I'm hoping someone could help me with. On the medloans website, it lists the Stafford and perkins loan repayment period as being 10 years, including residency. This means that post resideny, some of us would have like 5 years to pay back our loans, which spikes up our monthly payments by a lot.

Is it possible to create a 10 year repayment period, post residency? I know this would increase the interest, but it would save a good deal of monthly payments.
 
SoulinNeed said:
Here's something I'm hoping someone could help me with. On the medloans website, it lists the Stafford and perkins loan repayment period as being 10 years, including residency. This means that post resideny, some of us would have like 5 years to pay back our loans, which spikes up our monthly payments by a lot.

Is it possible to create a 10 year repayment period, post residency? I know this would increase the interest, but it would save a good deal of monthly payments.
Click to expand...

If you're trying to do this on the calculator, use the scratchpad to see monthly payments for different repayment times.

If you mean in real life, I think you could choose the extended (25-yr) plan or IBR and just pay extra every month. (meaning you're choosing these plans to lower your *minimum* monthly payment, not because you actually intend to pay that minimum for the full 25-year term)
 
SilverCat said:
I have no undergrad debt. That's med school debt- the tuition starts at 56k. Of course,that includes interest accumulation by the time of graduation. It's based on the Medloans calculator.
Click to expand...

Still seems too high. If it's correct though, you should try to find a way to get that down. Don't accept that 500k is okay. Work summers, apply for every scholarship, etc. because many students graduate with under 200k in debt. And don't completely rule out paying during residency. 47k may not be doctor money but it's still enough to make small payments on debt as a single person. If you're married and your spouse doesn't work then that sucks but if you have dual income then you could certainly knock that number down.
 
jr93 said:
Still seems too high. If it's correct though, you should try to find a way to get that down. Don't accept that 500k is okay. Work summers, apply for every scholarship, etc. because many students graduate with under 200k in debt. And don't completely rule out paying during residency. 47k may not be doctor money but it's still enough to make small payments on debt as a single person. If you're married and your spouse doesn't work then that sucks but if you have dual income then you could certainly knock that number down.
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+1

If you earn $100K the summer between MS1 and MS2, you could knock that total debt down to a more manageable $400K or even high $300s.
 
Looks like I will end up paying back around $420,000 on $228,000 worth of loans (federal+institutional) if I do IBR for 10 years. yikes.
 
SoulinNeed said:
Like I said earlier, PhD is cool, but you're essentially losing a few years of physician income by doing it. Still cool, though.
Click to expand...

with loans like they are now, MD/PhD might be a better deal than it was before (you're also losing a few years of physician income if you have to pay $40,000 a year in loans for the first decade or so)
 
peanutz said:
with loans like they are now, MD/PhD might be a better deal than it was before (you're also losing a few years of physician income if you have to pay $40,000 a year in loans for the first decade or so)
Click to expand...

You can't put a price on four years of agony trying to complete a PhD.

🙂
 
Med school will cost me about 180 K. No debt going in so my payments will be 2K a month for 10 years. Not horrible I guess
 
I forgot to estimate:

I have no undergrad debt and am going to my state school. I will recieve <$10K/yr in grants from my school + family help.

I will probably take out about 160K in principal. If I do 6-years of post medical school training and do IBR during that time, I will have a new balance of $215K and the following repayment options:

-For 10 years post-residency & fellowship: ~$2500/month (age 37 when it's paid off)
-For 15 years post-residency & fellowship: ~$2000/month (age 42 when it's paid off)

Of course doing IBR/PAYE could make payments lower, but I don't want to be paying forever or get my balance "forgiven" (and taxed) after 20 or 25 years.

EDIT to add some perspective: (my other school choice was taking out ~260 in prinicpal and paying ~$4000 or ~$3500 a month in the above scenarios)
 
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I'm going to graduate between $60-80k in debt, depending on how much money I choose to take out for living expenses. My plan is to live off of my partner's income during residency and use all of my resident salary to pay off the debt in 1-2 years.
 
sazerac said:
+1

If you earn $100K the summer between MS1 and MS2, you could knock that total debt down to a more manageable $400K or even high $300s.
Click to expand...

Nice attempt at a joke but if you think 500k is normal then please do laugh. You're on the far end of the curve. The average debt at many schools is under 200k. You don't have to make 100k over summer, you just minimize what you finance and pay down debt as much as possible during school to prevent interest from compounding. I paid down mine and my wife's undergrad debt while making 44k a year and she made none. Letting debt just stack up because you'll be an attending some day doesn't make sense. 500k and even 400k is completely avoidable while still maintaining a reasonable lifestyle.
 
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